Listen to audiobooks during “in-between” times

Here's how Julie Elkeshen of CityMommy does something for herself during those otherwise-wasted snatches of "in-between" time:

I put audiobooks on my iPod and then carry it everywhere. When I have those spare moments while I'm waiting — at school, at gymnastics, watching the kids at the playground — I put one earphone in and listen. I listen to new business books, parenting books, anything, really. I now feel calmer, like I am getting something accomplished in those moments that I am usually trying to rush through.

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Comments

The library. And I don’t mean going into the library itself and checking out CDs. Many (if not most) libraries have a website where you check out digital copies of audiobooks for 3 weeks. I listen to audiobooks on my commute to work in the mornings and all of them are from the library.

I agree so hard about NPR podcasts. I love “Wait, Wait Don’t Tell Me,” but I rarely have the time to listen through the whole thing on the weekend. Put it on my iPod, and I can usually listen at the park easily. The only problem is that I look like an idiot standing there laughing at what looks like nothing 🙂

As a fantasy/sci-fi fan, I listen to Escape Pod, PodCastle, and PseudoPod (horror, but still excellent).

I do _not_ appreciate that libraries do not provided downloadable audiobooks for my Mac or my iPod. Therefore, I borrow CD’s from the library, rip them, then load my iPod. At least I can use my Mac to reserve the CD’s and have them sent to my local library.

The library is a great place to get audiobooks. My hubby and I have been doing this for the past few months. He listens on his commute. If I’m working in the kitchen I plug speakers into my iphone or if I’m working all around the house I use the earphones. We’ve worked our way through the Chronicles of Narnia and now we’re going through Harry Potter. We’ve gotten them from the library.

With three kids 5 and under we don’t have much time to sit and read the books we want to but this is a great way to get the books “read” and still get things done.

The challenge for me is trying to keep up with my hubby. He gets an hour a day of with commuting. Sometimes I don’t get that.

I listen to audiobooks on my ipod at night when I go to bed using a pillow speaker (<$10) from Radio Shack. I set the sleep timer to 15 or 30 minutes and drift off to sleep. These days I also listen in the middle of the night after night feeding my newborn.

Also, we get a lot of audiobook CDs from the library for long car trips as an alternative to DVDs. We don’t really have the hard drive space to rip them, but there’s really no reason one couldn’t use that resource to make their own personal collection.

Don’t forget about the databases libraries offer – I’m a librarian and one of our databases offers ebooks and audiobooks for kids and in languages other than english.

And the reason they aren’t ipod compatible – it’s least compatible and doesn’t work with the requirements of the vendor providing the service. Not all users have ipods/macs and very few have the knowhow to get itunes. Mp3s play with minimal fuss. In my community, very few people have ipods, most people have drag’n’drop mp3 players, which work well with our mp3s and most online audiobooks.

That said, Overdrive, the major supplier of audiobooks in libraries, has a whole realm off issues including the lack of compatibility.

Great audiobooks at http://www.audiopod.ca and they have an absolutly amazing delivery system. Just a simple drag and drop, automated booksmarks, multiple open books and some sort of virtual audiobook that you can share by email. My 4 year old loves the illustrated audiobooks, and she can do them herself. It is really great.